


Late Goodbye

by revishawke



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bittersweet Ending, F/F, Major character death - Freeform, last goodbyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:07:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28879200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revishawke/pseuds/revishawke
Summary: Chloe visits someone she should have ages ago.
Relationships: Kate Marsh/Chloe Price, Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price
Comments: 18
Kudos: 15





	Late Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rainboq](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainboq/gifts).



_“And we keep driving into the night  
It's a late goodbye  
Such a late goodbye  
And we keep driving into the night  
It's a late goodbye....”_

Chloe turned off the music and rested her head on the wheel. She had been listening to that song for who the fuck knows how long or why, but she couldn’t help herself. In truth, she was merely procrastinating. She fucking hated being here again but Chloe knew it was something she had to do.

With a big sigh she opened the car and began walking towards the entrance. Each step more painful and agonizing than the last. She momentarily stopped and looked at the sign above her head: **ARCADIA BAY CEMETERY**. Chloe fucking despised this place more than anything in her life. As shitty as step-douche was and probably still is, nothing compared to the tsunami of emotions that this place made her feel each time. Pain. Sorrow. Anger. ...And her old friend regret. These emotions weighed Chloe down ever since her Dad died and even more so after what had happened on that fateful April. She’d managed to come to terms with her father’s death but she wasn’t able to let _her_ go. Not yet.

She continued her journey towards a tombstone whose existence she wanted to deny more than anything. Maybe if she had some power, she could have changed things for the better...but then again playing with time was never a good idea. She knew the path perfectly well, she tried to visit her many times but always chickened before reaching it. Not this time! Chloe thought as she finally reached her dreaded destination.

“Hi… It’s, uh, been a while since I visited… Actually this is the first time. Sorry about that, I’m an asshole. I... To be honest, I just hoped that if I denied it then maybe one day I would just wake the fuck up from this nightmare and you’d be next to me, like how it’s supposed to be.” Chloe’s breathing became more and ragged as she continued. Tears began to flow from her eyes as her heart broke again and again. Her soul crushed under her sorrow until she fell to her knees, curled up, and cried.

“I loved you so much… How can you be dead? What kind of fucked up world does this? Who does this?” Chloe kept sobbing uncontrollably into the cold ground in front of the grave. She hated the world for taking her away so soon. She hated that fucking asshole who overdosed her and put her there. She despised all of them with a burning hatred that she wished would turn this shithole into glass. She had deserved so much more, so many things had been robbed from them. Chloe had no idea how long she spent crying, but her tears eventually faded into hiccups as she found her feet once again, and didn't dare to look at the tombstone.

“Sorry about that… I, um, didn’t come here break down like that… Guess I’m just a giant fuckin softie after all. I’m definitely not the same blue haired punk ass kid you used to hang out with at junkyard.” Chole smiled wistfully as she looked up for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. There was a lonely raven flying nearby, and she watched it lazily spiral on thermals for a moment before returning her attention to her friend, to her love.

“You were my angel. I hope you knew that… When Dad died and everything turned to shit you were there for me. You saved me. I don’t think I told you that enough. I was too busy trying to keep my stupid street cred instead of admitting that. I have to believe that you still knew it deep down.” Chloe said as she stood there shivering because of the cold autumn wind. Or maybe because of her emotions. Chloe knew she was still bad with all this mushy shit.

“You were my everything. I regret all those times when I was an asshole to you, all those moments we lost, all those kisses we didn’t share… I wish I’d told you how much you mean to me every morning....” Chloe sighed as she reached towards her pocket only to realize that only her phone was there.

“Fucking old habits die hard I stopped smoking by the way. No cigarettes, no weed. Your death made me actually think about my own mortality. Or maybe it was the presence of a certain good good influence. Probably both. Speak of the angel.” Chloe said as she saw her wife slowly approaching her out of the corner of her eye.

“So considerate that one” Chloe turned her attention towards the grave once more.

“When you disappeared, it felt like my life was over. Everything around me crumbled again, like I was some kind of fucking disease that destroyed everything good in this world. Not gonna lie, I hit rock bottom pretty hard. I was so completely lost. Then she came into my life to save me from myself. She was there for me in my darkest hour. She even tried to help me find you. When everybody else fucking gave up on you. Even fucking Rachel just fucking eloped to fucking L.A.. That really fucking hurt, you know. I’m still not talking to her. Probably never will. After they found your body, I told her that she was a shitty friend to both us and could take her condolences and ram it up her ass. That was our last conversation. I probably wrecked that relationship beyond repair. Oh fucking well.” Chloe felt a soft hand squeezing her shoulder.

“Are you all right?” Her wife asked. She was already wearing her winter coat, a grey infinity scarf wrapped around her neck, her yellow coat matching her blond hair, the black skirt, thigh-socks and badass punk winter boots made her both hot and incredibly cute. Chloe might have been a good bad influence on her.

“I’m… better cinna-bomb" Chloe teasingly said and she planted a kiss on her wife’s forehead.

“Ugh...I hate it when you call me that," Kate Price sighed in frustration, trying to look mad and completely failing to do so.

“You love it.” Chloe snarked back with a grin, putting her arms around her wife as she finally gazed upon the epitaph:

_MAXINE “MAX” CAULFIELD  
WHEN A DOOR CLOSES, A WINDOW OPENS...  
SEPTEMBER 21, 1995 – APRIL 22, 2013_

“So... I guess I gotta say goodbye. That’s what I came here to do really, finally say goodbye to you Max... I got married by the way. I managed to seduce a Christian do gooder… Augh!” Chloe cried out as Kate bumped her shoulder.

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving you Max. You were my angel, the love of my life. I miss you so much every day....” Chloe choked up for a moment before continuing.

“I wish you could have met Kate, you would have loved her. She’s so sweet and too fucking cute. Kinda like you were I guess...I love her Max.” Chloe paused, looking lovingly at the face of her wife.

“I hope that’s okay. Oh, I’ve never even talked about what’s up with me I guess. You were always the babbling one and look at me: mushy and babbling,” Chloe let out a sad laugh.

“My relationship with Joyce is fucking nonexistent. Don’t give me that look Caulfield! I actually worked my ass off to fix shit, but I just had to face facts. She loved Dad, but I’m not sure she ever actually wanted me… And step-douche is still a fucking asshole. Nothing changed there, I think. Last I heard he was living in Arizona in some weird community after the divorce.” Snow began lazily drifting down, blanketing the cemetery in a thin sheet of white.

“It took me so long to finally visit you and now that I have to say my goodbye I don’t want to leave,” Chloe grabbed Kate’s offered hand and squeezed it. She felt like she was on the verge of another breakdown.

“We are moving to New York soon so this is probably it for a long ass time… Kate is getting her children’s book published, and I, uh, got a pretty good job as a mechanic there. Fuck, listen. We're always together, okay? Even when we're apart. We're still Max and Chloe. I will always, always love you. So, uh, yeah. Goodbye.” And with that Chloe turned away from the grave and hand in hand, the women walked towards their car. Their hearts heavy with grief but full of hope for a better future. As they drove away from the cemetery, Chloe began to hum a song.

_“And we keep driving into the night  
It's a late goodbye  
Such a late goodbye  
And we keep driving into the night  
It's a late goodbye....”_

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [DMMeeble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DMMeeble/pseuds/DMMeeble), [ Rainboq ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainboq/pseuds/Rainboq) and [ Sufferingisachoice ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SufferingIsAChoice/pseuds/SufferingIsAChoice) for beta reading this.  
> Song referenced in the story: [ Late Goodbye ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzsiE44Lz_w)


End file.
